Heh, indeed however there are two sides to the coin.Originally Posted by Kraco
There are those who argue these incidents take place not because there are too many guns, but because there are not enough. "All the school shootings that have ended abruptly in the last 10 years were stopped because a law-abiding citizen - a potential victim - had a gun," said Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America. "The latest school shooting at Virginia Tech demands an immediate end to the gun-free zone law which leaves the nation's schools at the mercy of madmen." Others argue that schools and colleges are not sufficiently protected, and that the lack of security is tantamount to an open invitation.
The right to bear arms in America is seen as an important civil liberty, and the debate concerns how far to impose restrictions on that right. Politically, most Democrats favour tighter gun laws whilst the majority of Republicans are opposed to any new legislation, saying the problem lies in the lax enforcement of existing laws.
According to the Pew Charitable Trust, support for greater restrictions has slipped in recent years among the general public. A recent poll for the organisation suggested that 52% of people had favourable views on the NRA compared to 32% who did not.
In a separate poll in October last year, some 56% of people did however tell Gallup that they wanted stricter laws. However, when given the choice in that poll between enforcing current gun laws or passing new gun laws in addition to enforcing the existing ones, most people preferred simple enforcement.
On the gun laws in the US
After the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999 more than 15 state legislatures passed gun control bills or dropped liberalization bills supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA). Nonetheless, in many cases these simply restricted the number or type of guns which could be bought. California for instance limited gun sales to one firearm per customer per month and outlawed some assault weapons.
At the federal level, little changed. Following the Columbine killings President Bill Clinton proposed tougher legislation including raising the legal age of possession to 21 and closing loopholes on sales without background checks. But they proved intensely controversial, and by the time the bill was to be voted on by Congress the president himself denounced it as so watered down it was "worse than current law".
Mr Clinton did however introduce the Assault Weapons Ban, a 10-year ban on 19 types of semi-automatic weapon. The ban expired in 2004 under President George Bush and has not yet been renewed.
As well one last tidbit In Switzerland where every man of military age is required to keep a gun at home as part of the country's civil defence policy, the number of deaths per 10,000 population was 0.05.
On the account of the shooting
There are five common factors in shootings like this. The first is an acute rejection episode - such as Teasing, bullying or other kinds of rejection which usually takes place shortly before the killer acts. His video(that he sent to NBC), he makes it clear he believes there was an on-going history of rejection.
In his video, Cho says: "You have vandalised my heart, raped my soul and tortured my conscience. You thought it was one pathetic more life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ to inspire generations of the weak and the defenceless people."
He also labelled fellow students "brats" and "snobs".
A fascination with guns and explosives is another factor. Cho, it appears, had acquired weaponry over a period of time. The video also shows him dressed in a hunting vest, black baseball cap and gloves brandishing guns at the camera.
Another factor is a pre-occupation with death. They talk about it a lot and they think about it. Cho's plays appear to indicate a fascination with the subject. In one of his plays, entitled Richard McBeef, the main character named John is alone in his room throwing darts at a target covered with a picture of his stepfather, the eponymous character. John says: "I hate him. Must kill Dick. Must kill Dick. Dick must die. Kill Dick."
Metal state, is another factor, Cho had previously been accused of stalking two female students, and had been taken to a mental health facility in 2005. There were also concerns at the time that he was suicidal. In the videos his actions and words showed Cho could have been suffering from a severe case of grandiosity and possibly either bipolar depression or schizophrenia.
In many campus and school killings, the perpetrators planned their attacks some time in advance this being the fifth factor. Cho must have planned the attack more than a month ago, when he purchased his first gun. It appears that he began working on material for his video at least six days before the shootings. He seemed to be was very methodical and very calculated, like he was very clear cut about what he wanted to do."
The problem is how to catch them before they do this. Thats a hard issue in itself. There is no accurate or useful "profile" of students who engaged in targeted school violence. There are many students who are troubled and many who have a fascination with death, but it doesn't mean that they are going to kill people As well the concern with profiling is that it can include a high percentage of students that have similar characteristics.
Other issue that happens is that such attacks have a tremendous and lasting effect on the place that was targeted. In the aftermath, questions are inevitably asked about whether the authorities should have known that the attack was being planned, and could have been prevented.The schools often underestimates the long-term effect of the crisis. It is not unusual for there to be a lot of depression and suicides in the weeks and months after the tragedy.
Reply With Quote
